Restart Your Engines...

Last night was the premiere of the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race – a cross between America's Next Top Model and Project Runway – a formula that targets to gays and 14 year old girls. There were nine of us packed in my tiny apartment living room, sharing wine, cookies, stories, and of course a love for reality drag competition.

There were two Gay Place bloggers present: Ricky "Lil Roo" Hill and Steven Cheslik-Demeyer. As well as some good friends: Claudette "Lady C" Murphree, James Dean Jay Byrd, Jo Labow, Patti Nelson, Meghan Flynn, and Jaime Benites.

The challenge this week was to design a Look (with a capital L, honey) from curtains (a la Gone With the Wind). This after a Civil War themed photoshoot, yeah, slavery and drag queens is an awkward combination at best. But the ladies turned it out and created some fierce and tragic fashionz (with a "z", honey). Morgan McMichaels won while Sahara Davenport and Shangela had to Lip Sync for their LIVES and what ensued was a good ole fashioned drag battle complete with stunts and vogueing! The baby queen Shangela sashayed away. BTW you can watch the full episode online, fo' free.

All the production values have been upped this season, including a sponsorship from, who else?, Absolut Vodka. Guest judges are already looking good: this week was Kathy Griffin, and in the promo I think I saw my BFForevs Niecy Nash! And Logo has added a post-show experience called "untucked", in which we get to see the contestants throw some serious shade at each other in the green room. It's kind of a downer, and wrecks all notions of drag queen solidarity.

Following our tradition of covering this show "in-depth" I present you with some of the best comments from the peanut gallery:

Ricky: Ru does Tyra [Banks] better than Tyra does Tyra!

Jo: My interior illusions are crumbling! The girls are better on the stage than backstage/stabbing. Though I will be watching more Project Ruru this season!

Jay Byrd: Testosterone in heels!

Steven: My brain is still kind of exploding from the Civil War photo shoot with the queens straddling a cannon and flanked by two shirtless, muscular black models. Were those Union or Confederate uniforms? Either way, it's a total culture-fuck.

Jaime: I learned a new vocabulary word, “fish”, a boy that looks like a real girl. So my predictions for the show? I think there is going to be a lot of singing for one’s life, a lot of back-stabbing, a lot of "my makeup is better than yours", and a lot of tucking. My top three: Tatianna, Pandora Boxx ,and Tyra Sanchez.

and the inimitable Lady C: Rupaul looks as ah-mazing as ever (thanks to the bank of FLOOD lights on her face). And what happened to the MAC cosmetics sponsorship? I had no idea Sheree of the Housewives of Atlanta was going to be on this program (Sahara Davenport). The Antebellum theme was an ... interesting choice. At this stage I’m watching Jujubee, Pandora Boxx, and Sonique. Terribly excited to be back at the Drag Race.

You said it, lady. See you next week. Coming soon: Gay Placers must Lip Synch for their lives!